Gasification of solid fuel



July 9, 1929 J. M. RusBY ET AL 1.729.403

GASIFIGATION OF SOLID FUEL Filed Deo. 5. 192,2

40 increase in the rate o fpr Patented July 9', 192.9,- I

` UNITED sTA'r1-:s

PATENT OFFICE.

JonzN I. atraer, or rnILAnELrHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, AND cms w. Aunms,

or zuumrrlr,v nmNEso'rA, AssIGNoBs 'ro THE U. e. I. CONTRACTING conm, or

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A conronA'rIoN or nELAwAnE.

'GAsrrIcATIoN or' soLIn FUEL.

Application mea members, lmaa. serial No. 6015,01.

top of t e fuel bed to avoid the production of j undesirable clinker in the case `of water gas production. Y the opcrationofas as generators ,for t e' production ofgas frombituminous fuel one of the factors limiting the .rate of productionof ga's, or

producers or water `otherwise stated,the fcapacity of the pro-V ducer' or Ageneratoriis the emission .at the top of the fuel bed and the carrying over with the gas of fuel particles, a Vcertain amount of which is put up with by ,removing it kfrom the gas receiving flues and ap- ?5 paratus but nevertheless such carrying over operates to 1 imit`the rate at which the producer or enerator can be commercially operated. id from the above the use of bi tuminous fue or even of coke presents cerao vtain well known difficulties peculiar to the -manufacture of water gas and Vinvolvin-g the formation of objectionable clinkers which limit the rate of gas production.

y Objects of the present invention are to minimize,- and even make negligible the quan-` tity of fuel particles that are carried over from the Vfuel and, if desired, to permit ofan increase in the rate of blastand of the siication of fuel resultin of course in an uction of as in the case of any 'given generator or pro ucer. Another object of the present inventionis to counteract thetendenlcy towards abnormal changes in tem erature of 'a .fuel bed', 'blasted 145 alternatel wit steam and air for the prol.

kduction o water' gas, due to the formation of channels or chimneys, and which vcause the 'fusion or ag lomeration of ash-into masses 1 of clihker aherent to the sidewall of the generator, ald elsewhere, high up in the fire and `which masses of-clinker are diiicult to remove and ifinot removed limit lthe'rate ffjproduction of gas in addition Ato causing fr f wast'ofiteam.

The invention will-be claimed at the'end hereof but will be first described. The accompanying drawing is diagrammatically illustrative o f the recess and in' it Fig. 1 is a vertical sectiona view illustra` tive of the ste of utilizing' .the voids in quiescent fresh fha-l for diifusing the blast.

F ig. Q is a Vertical sectional view illustratlve 1n an exaggerated manner of a condi# tion to be avoided in the process in which the efficiency of the voids for the purpose of Eig.. 1 has been unduly diminished prior to the 'supply of additional fuel, and Fig. 3 is a vertical cross section illustrating the restored porosit in advance of the next n ming supply o fuel. f

or the sake of a description reference may be made to thepgasific'ation in a producer or generator of a bed vof fuel to the top of which bituminous fuel is fed `in'fairly *even distribution and which is upwardly blasted in a manner WellV understood for the production of producer or water gas. a process is c clic, in that succeeding'supplies offuel ed at the top of the fuel bed.

descend through the fuel bed4 being covered by oncoming supplies of fuel. Bypermt ting the supplies of fuel at the top of the fuel bed to remain' substantially4 or suffiring 'between the particles of bituminous fuel afford passages for the blastwhich are dis- Such .cie'ntly quiescent, the voids naturally occur tributed substantially uniformly throughout the horizontalextent or area of the fuel bed. From this it `follows that the suppl of bituminous fuel at the top of. the fue bed is blasted very uniformly throughout its extent as distinguished from violent concentration of the blast at localized portions, so that the entire horizontal extent. of the top supply of fuel is uniformly heated and not disturbed in a way that would give rise to the emission of fuel particles, and in this con'- -nection it `may-be saidthat if the effect of the blast is localized the blast is suiliciently:

strong to blow over fuel particles,. but by putting the blast uniformly through the to supply of fuel the blast is not strongenoug n to low over any substantial quantity of fuel particle Under the heat ofthe blast and 1n most ases the fuel at the top part of the fuel bed sears and melts and becomes sticky or otherwiseA changes its condition so that the voids between the .particles of the fuel of fuel is fed on top of it.

lfollows that the described application of heat first to the surface of the particles as they existin the fuel` and then to the surface of the sliced`or divided agglomerations is a rapid and economical one. The uniform distribution of the passage of the blast through the supply or suppliesunderlying the top and quiescent fuel operatingr in the manner above described is not productive of localized blasts and 'therefore does not tend to blow fuel particles out at the top of the fuel bed.

When my invention is applied to a Water gas generator steam may be introduced to the fuel bed through the inlet labeled steam in Figure 1. p

Without intending to limit the invention but in order to further describe the same its practice in the following form may be refer d to:

ferring to Fig. l, bituminous coal is fed in substantially evenly distributed supplies on the top of the fire which is upwardly air blasted at 1, the fuel supply 2 at'the top of4 the fuel bed being undisturbed is permitted to sear or melt or become stickynunder the influence of the heat of the blast, for example, for from five to ten minutes, or as longfas desired without unduly increasing the-resistance of the fire to blast or gas passage so that lno substantial amount of fuel is carried over or objectionable holes made through the top layer, and at the end of that time stirring the supply and feeding additional supplies.A The condition approached but avoided, as above described, is shown in intermittently but it is not in all cases necessary that these steps be strictly intermittent although that practice produces excellent' results. Fig. 3 illustrates the fuel bed stirred and restored to the condition of Fig. 1 prior to the arrival of the next supply of fuel 5, which in its turn operates when quiescent as described in connection with Fig. 1.

The occurrence of localized air blasts through vents or chimneys in the fuel bed in the case of the gasification of soft or hard fuel in the production of water gas is productive of masses of clinker adherent to the side wall of the generator or located throu hout the fuel bed, high above the grate, le-

cause the temperature of the fire is alternately undul raised and lowered as hereinabove describe and this is one of the cases in which the agitation of the hard fuel need` not be intermittent.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art to which the invention relates that modifications may be made in details of practice and procedure Without departing from the spirit of the invention which is not limited as to those matters or otherwise than as the prior art and the appended clailn may require.

We claim:

A process of making combustible gas from bituminous fuel; which consists in charging bituminous fuel into a gas producer so as to form a fuel bed having voids between the fuel lumps therein; ythen air blasting the fuel bed, while it remains quiescent, to form combustible gas until the top portion of the fuel bed is coalesced and the voids partly eliminated; then stopping the air blast; then stirring the coalesced fuel portion; then :uld-

ing additional bituminous fuel; and then air blasting the fuel bed.

JOHN M. RUSBY.

. CHARLES W. ANDREWS. 

